Lawyer takes on global real estate challenges

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Money and desire are not the only prerequisites for international buyers of U.S. property.Edward Mermelstein, a real estate lawyer who works mostly with foreign buyers, knows well the challenges -- particularly in the Manhattan market and particularly when the buyers happen to be from countries with which the U.S. has strained relations or are otherwise under special financial reporting requirements. In the past several months, said Mermelstein, "Some institutions are no longer lending to foreign nationals, period." And Ukraine-born Mermelstein, founder of Edward A. Mermelstein & Associates, said that has led some of his clients to seek out less-conventional loans from hedge fund companies, as an example. Buyers from England, Ireland or France tend to have a much easi...